Bambooplease help me on this word order issue. i am not sure which is grammatically correct.

I would never have done

or

I would have never done

thanks in advance,

bamboo [A]

Without context, it is a toss-up, a matter of choice. My personal preference is to put "never" after "I". Either of your choices is fine, but I think the second may be more common, as "would've" is heard quite often, but not seen in serious writing.

Does anyone else think that there's a difference in placement based on whether or not you actually DID do it? Or at least, an implication of that? You can make sentences that mean each of the following using a different word order and vocal emphasis, but this is my first interpretation:

I never would have: If I had known you were returning from your trip on Thursday, I never would have agreed to have dinner with Marge on Friday. (But I did agree to do so.)

I would never have: You thought I was having dinner with her? I would never have agreed to have dinner with Marge! (I didn't and I wouldn't.)

My brain isn't getting the same reaction as you get from trying over those sentences, but I still think you may have something there. I just can't seem to focus in on what it is! One of these days it'll hit me -- an "Aha!" moment -- but nothing so far.

I ___ would _____ have _____ done that if I had known... (because I did, but wouldn't have otherwise) - where would you drop in the never? To me (and I admit, I'm not the most normal person around), it's either the first or the third, but for this purpose, not the second.